Burton Bridge Battle Brew

Cask at the Babington Arms, Derby. Gold with a creamy white head; lime and citrus aroma; more citrus flavour with a bitter grapefruit bite and dry finish with orange and lime. Very pleasant on a summers evening.

Cask conditioned at The Woolpack, Banbury. Brown to orange with off white head. Good big bitter with an underlying alcohol note, slightly tart and fruity, but with a balancing hop. A decent Premium Bitter.

Cask (Angleterre, Helsinki) Orange brown, slightly non-clear. Sweet dark fruit, ginger and malt aroma. Very complex taste, everything from the aroma, but with masses of hops - very clean and crisp and full bodied, well balanced. Very similar to Thomas Sykes, but at only 5%.

Pint in the Kings Head, Monmouth. Before I start, this beer was not well kept. Cloudy appearance, deep amber colour. Non to very thin head. Nutty flavour. Not a fair rating and will need to rate again, put off by its dish water texture, colour, aroma. I will come back to this one....one day

Cask at Moon Under Water in Watford. Pours a slightly cloudy orange colour with only a small amount of head. Slightly earthy smell with some definite hop notes, the flavour is somewhat tart, with hops and unripe fruit in the taste. Slight sweetness in the aftertaste.

1. Cask Handpump at the Helter Skelter, Frodsham 27/08/2001 Mid brown coloured with some fruit flavour and alcohol present. Hop finish. 2. Cask Handpump at the Station Buffet, Stalybridge 19/07/2003 Golden slightly hazy with some alcohol. Fruity with a slightly bitter full malt finish.

Cask at Phoenix, Canterbury. Dark copper, sparse bubbly off white head, nice malts on nose, with some rich dark berry fruit which continues into the mouth. Good acids then spicey hop finish.

Clear amber in colour. Aromas are spicy, floral hops with pear. Flavours are moreish juicy malts with more pear. Lots of dry hops, very dry. Quite addictive.